


Beforus Before Us (Discontinued)

by Pendal-Archive (pendaly)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Beforus, Beforus Ancestors, Character Death, Cull System, Fan history, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, Gen, Multi, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-23
Updated: 2015-04-12
Packaged: 2018-01-26 06:53:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1678850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pendaly/pseuds/Pendal-Archive
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the planet of the pre-scratch trolls they've had a history of their own, living under the rule of the Empress presented a number of conflicts as the culled trolls increased rapidly in numbers, freedom only belonging to those who could avoid culling. This is the story of the Beforan Ancestors and their struggles against their own regime</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> Greetings, Earthlings. So I've always loved the concept of the Beforan ancestors so here, I'm writing my headcannon for them in a long fic. So enjoy. A couple of friends and I spent hours just coming up with these names. I'll list them here for your convenience. Not all of the characters are exactly as one might expect them, we tweaked each of their characters to fit the plot and circumstances just right. Well enjoy this story! I don't own Homestuck. Thanks to Eri and Tav for helping me out with this.
> 
> Character Names:  
> Feferi- Her Imperious Mercifulness (The Merciful for short)  
> Eridan- (Redeemer) Halfsoul  
> Gamzee- The Grand Highblood (Yeah we didn't see a reason to change his name)  
> Equius- The Dispatch/The Mechanic  
> Vriska- Informer Mindfang  
> Terezi- The Overseer  
> Kanaya- The Countess  
> Nepeta- The huntress  
> Sollux- The Ψiioniic/The Impaired  
> Tavros- The Mutineer  
> Aradia- The Director/The Casualty  
> Karkat- The Signless/The Pitiable

Her Imperious Mercifulness paced up and down the throne room, her moirail leaning against one of the many intricately carved pillars. He sighed and crossed his arms in disinterest as he listened to The Merciful blabber on about whatever system it was that she wanted to implement.

“Halfsoul, you know I can’t just let them run loose. My first act as empress should be something beneficial to all trolls, not just the coolbloods or warmbloods. It has to be this way. The cull system will fix all of the issues with the dying young.”

He only picked at his fingernails in partial interest, “I’m just pointin’ out that no one really needs this system you’re talkin’ about. Let the weaklings die off. If they don’t survive they didn’t deserve to live in the first place.”

“They are _children_! They should get equal opportunities under all circumstances.”

“Well, Merciful, I don’t know why you’re talkin’ to me about it since you aren’t takin’ anythin’ I say into consideration.”

“Eridan!”

He raised his eyebrows, “Feferi.”

She sighed, “I understand your concern, but trust me, it’ll be better this way. The Cull System will make sure the needy and disabled still have a place in our society.”

Halfsoul shook his head, “You’re just openin’ a can a’ worms, Mercy. I won’t say I told you so.”

He turned and left with a swirl of his cape. He always was one for grand exits. He had a job to get back to. There was a reason he was called “Halfsoul” and it wasn’t a pretty one.

* * *

 

Sweeps passed by and the young empress’s system seemed to work. Those who volunteered for the Cull System and were examined properly were admitted. The Cull Center became a place of community for the disabled and needy, a place of rest for the elderly and sick, and a place of support for all.

The Merciful found herself happy with the system’s progress in spite of Halfsoul’s objections. She began implementing more and more requirements and systems, tying the Cull Centers of everywhere around the world into one big system that became a central part of the culture.

She created new standards, little changes over sweeps and sweeps. She eventually made testing for the Cull System the norm among lowbloods and began admitting criminals claiming they were of the category “Mental disability”.

Nigh half a century passed and soon enough it was expected of nearly every lowblood to be culled for one reason or another, and only the strongest and most assertive of lowbloods lived outside the Cull Center.

Two such lowbloods were a couple of rustbloods known as The Mutineer and The Director.

The Mutineer ran up the hillside, his feet speeding over the ground almost as if he were flying. The footsteps of the empress’s Escorts pattering behind him. _Just a little further_ , he thought as he glanced over at The Director.

She looked back at him with hair flying wildly behind her. She grinned and sped up as if they weren’t running to keep their freedom, but simply racing The Mutineer in sport. He offered a soft smile in return and sprinted faster as the woods came into sight. He darted into the undergrowth, taking The Director’s hand and crouching down to be masked by the vegetation.

He placed a hand over his own mouth, trying to keep his breathing quiet as the escorts passed by. The Director chuckled quietly after they’d all passed, leaning on The Mutineer in a hug, “Nothing like the present, is there?”

He laughed and hugged her in return, “There certainly isn’t.” He stood up and offered her a hand, “We’d better get moving.”

She took his hand and stood, readjusting her torn up skirt, “Indeed, we might want to switch locations again soon, they’re getting uncomfortably close to the base lately.”

He nodded, “Better start heading to the next town over.”

“Heard the Cull Center there is the largest on Beforus,” The Director smirked, “Good to know we’ll be lessening those numbers.”

The Mutineer leaned down and kissed The Director’s forehead, “Let’s get moving then.”

The Director took ahold of his hand and began running off, “I’ll need to get the Center’s layout somehow, can you get in and out?”

The Mutineer ran after her, a smile plastered across his face, “I might be able to get in and out quickly. If worse comes to worse you go on ahead and wait for me at the next town.”

The Director slowed to a walk, “If you don’t reappear within a perigee I’m coming after you.”

The Mutineer stopped with The Director’s hand in his, “Aradia. Don’t. I’ll be fine. If I don’t make it out, you just keep moving. I’ll figure it out eventually.”

The Director rolled her eyes and started walking back, “You know I guarantee nothing, Tav. I’ll come get you if you don’t come back within a perigee and that’s final.”

The mutineer sighed and pressed a kiss to The Director’s cheek, “Fine. Just be careful,” He paused before whispering, “Pale for you.”

The Director smiled and hugged around the mutineer’s middle, “Pale for you, too.”

And with that they walked through the wooded area back to the little camp they’d been calling home for almost a perigee. It was time to move again.

* * *

The Merciful rested in her coon, her fingers running through Halfsoul’s hair, “There was another breakout today.”

Halfsoul hummed in acknowledgement, “And what do you expect me to do about it? I only kill lusii, send The Overseer or The Dispatch to take care of it.”

The Merciful sighed and leaned her head on Halfsoul’s chest, “I already did, but they can’t seem to pin them down. There are two trolls who keep showing up every time there’s a breakout, but they keep managing to escape and head to a different town. I’ve sent out a warning to all the Cull Centers to keep an eye out so hopefully we can keep them from hurting more people.”

“Fef, you’re goin’ about this all wrong. Just let the lowbloods do their thing, why should we have to take care a’ them. If they want out, let them out.”

The Merciful shook her head, “They wouldn’t survive outside the Cull Centers.”

Halfsoul sighed, “Then just let them die.”

“Eridan!”

“I’m just pointin’ out the facts a’ the matter, but I guess you won’t listen.”

Halfsoul sat up a bit to wrap his arms around The Merciful, “If you ever change your mind, you know where to find me.”

The Merciful sighed and leaned into his arms, closing her eyes, “Well, good day, Eridan.”

She leaned up and pressed a slow kiss to his lips before settling into his arms and drifting to sleep.

“Good day, Fef.”

He sighed and kissed his matesprit’s forehead, wishing she would just see reason.

* * *

Miles away a small troll was hatched in a cavern and a jadeblood countess picked him up staring at the little red grub, “Hello there, young one.”


	2. Two Trapped Souls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Signless and The Countess. The Ψiioniic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah I know I'm updating two things in one day. I'm just excited and actually writing a lot for once so yeah. Also, mild gore in the second half of this chapter.

The Signless grew up under constant supervision, The Countess visited him often, too often according to the young Signless. She would come every day at midnight and stay a few hours, sometimes longer until just before daybreak when she would leave to go check on other wrigglers she’d sponsored into the Cull System.

The Signless opened his hive door and glared up at the countess.

“Hello, Karkat, how have you been?”

He squinted his eyes at her, “You mean for the past 16 hours since you’ve shoved your nose in my life? Much better once you left.”

The Countess frowned at him disapprovingly, “Karkat, what have I told you about being rude?”

He stared at his feet refusing to make eye contact with her, “You’re not my custodian, Countess.”

The Countess sighed in irritation, “Karkat, are you going to let me in?”

He opened the door a little wider and stepped out of the way, “Stop using my name, Countess.”

She kneeled down in front of him, mussing with his hair, “Karkat it’s my show of care for you.”

He growled and shouted at her, “Get out of my life!”

She stopped and stared at him, “Karkat I-”

“Stop using my name, _Kanaya_! It’s disrespectful and stupid. _Use my goddamn title!_ ”

“Karkat! Language!”

“You don’t actually give a shit about me, you just want to send me away t-to one of those Cull Centers! You just want to kill Crabdad and send me away. Don’t act like that’s not what happens! I’m not a moron! I know where culled lusii go!”

The Signless paused for breath, turning red from his tantrum. The Countess stared at him before holding a hand to his cheek, “K- Signless, the Cull System is not a bad thing. It will make sure that you are safe. It’s a place that you can go in order to escape discrimination. The Cull System has saved millions of lives.”

The Signless looked up at The Countess and frowned, “What about Crabdad? They’ll just feed him to Gl'bgolyb.”

The Countess took The Signless’s face in her hands, “Signless, Don’t worry about your custodian. If you are accepted into the Cull System that’s not a bad thing, it’s for your own good. You’ll be safe and happy there.”

“How would you know what makes me happy? You don’t know the first thing about me.”

“I know that you want to be a leader. I know that you love people even when you act like you don’t. I know that you have nightmares even when you sleep in your coon and I also know that you miss the Ψiioniic.”

The Signless crossed his arms and glared at his feet.

“Can I get you anything to drink, Countess?” He spat.

She furrowed her eyebrows and frowned in hurt, “No thank you, K- Signless. I think… I think I’ll leave now.”

With that The Countess stood up, leaving the young troll standing in the doorway, a sinking feeling settling in his stomach.

The moment the door shut he ran up the stairs taking them two at a time, tripping over his stubby legs, “Crabdad!”

A familiar clicking sound emanated from Crabdad’s respite block. The Signless ran to him, wrapping his arms around Crabdad’s head, hugging him tightly and sighing as he felt one of his claws rest around his shoulders.

“I won’t let them take you away.”

Crabdad let out a series of clicks and nuzzled his head against The Signless’s.

“You’ve kept me safe for sweeps. It’s my turn now.”

* * *

 

The Ψiioniic sat in his assigned block writing a letter in his nigh illegible handwriting. He huffed in frustration. The pen in his hand felt so awkward compared to the Keyboard he was so accustomed to.

Hey KK,

This place sucks ass so bad. They won’t even let me use a goddamn husktop because it’ll “expose me to negative outside influences.”

I’m pretty sure they’re gonna read your letter if you get this and reply. Hell I don’t even know if this’ll get through since I’m sitting here dissing the Cull System.

God I fucking want out. I’m going crazy. The headaches have been getting worse and worse and I can’t figure out why. _Maybe_ it’s because there’s _NO FUCKING WAY FOR ME TO LET THE ENERGY OUT OF MY GODDAMN EYES!_ I swear two god, I’m gonna fucking explode. This is fucking painful.

God I miss you KK, but seriously, whatever you do. Do. Not. Get. Culled.

Now listen carefully because this is the only time you’re going to hear… well read this I guess. I love you KK, be careful, kiddo.

-The Ψiioniic Sollux Captor

The Ψiioniic sighed and sat back in his chair, staring at the sterile white walls of his block. He closed his eyes, the white only making his headache worse. He rubbed at his temples wishing the voices would just go away. The pain had just kept building up over the two perigees he’d been in the Cull Center. He never got any visitors, The Signless was far too young to come her by himself and if he came with that jadeblood he’d probably just be swept into the system himself, and that was the last thing The Ψiioniic wanted.

The Signless was like him in that he hated confinement and coddling. That and the fact that so many of their basic rights would be suspended within this shithole made him hope that The Signless would never have to bear being culled, but there was a horrible selfish part of him that hoped The Signless would be culled and stay here with him. He was so lonely.

The door to his block opened and one of the many caretakers walked in.

“Good Evening, Sollux.”

The Ψiioniic growled and his eyes flashed, “Get out.”

The little tealblood girl sighed, “I’m afraid I can’t do that. Is there any way I can be of service right now?”

“You can let me the fuck out of thith goddamn hellhole and let me go home, you imperial thcum.”

She closed her eyes and just took all of the attacks, probably used to them by this point.

“That is another request that I cannot allow. Is there anything else I can do that is more reasonable or shall I escort you down to breakfast now?”

The Ψiioniic leaned forwards with his head in his hands as it throbbed painfully, “Just a th-thecond.”

He reached over onto the desk and grabbed the letter he’d written before handing it to the girl, “Can you get that to The Th-Thignless? Please?”

He groaned as the pain in his head spiked again until he felt like vomiting. The girl took the letter, “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Tell me if it doethn’t get thent or if KK rethpondth but the letter getth withheld or thomething,” He glanced up at her as his headache plateaued out for a moment, “Oh don’t look at me like that, I may be ‘dithabled’ but I’m not thtupid.”

The girl sighed and nodded, “I suggested nothing of the sort.”

The Ψiioniic leaned against his desk, “You were thinking it.”

His eyes sparked again, letting out some of the built up energy.

“Get out.”

“I’m sorry I cant-“

“GET OUT! Thith ith not a-” his eyes flashed again and he held his hands over his eyes, “Thith ithn’t a requetht! Thith ith a ‘if you value your life’ thing! Get out for like… 5 thecondth!”

She hurried out the door shutting it behind her and the Ψiioniic let go, red and blue flashing at the door and blowing a hole through the wall as he screamed in pain.

When he looked up to see the wall blown out his eyes widened, “Oh no.”

He stood up shaking and worked his way along the wall to find the tealblood girl singed and blackened, her flesh charred and smoking, hair burned up at the edges filling the hallway with an unpleasant odor.

“Oh god.”

He scrambled backwards into his block, “Oh shit shit shit hsit fuck fuck fuck shit shit fuck!”

An alarm sounded in the hallway outside his block and he huddled up in the corner of his block as security officers came running. He was in so much shit.


	3. Failure and Preparations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, sorry about the shitty beginning, but isn't that always the way? the beginning always sucks ass and then the writing gets somewhat better as the story progresses? Yeah. Also what is pacing and why am I shit at it? I mean dude I'm skipping all over the place with the timeline. I might start just putting dates all over the place because this shit is like... all over the place. Anywho, enjoy another chapter. I don't own Homestuck.

The Mutineer stood in line at the Cull Center’s employment desk. He had to get in through employment or he’d be stuck there for god knows how long. As he reached the front desk the receptionist glanced up at him before clicking through files on the husktop. The Mutineer pushed his paperwork towards her and she glanced back up at him and then back down at the husktop before standing up, “Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to follow me.”

The Mutineer nodded. This tended to be standard procedure. Background checks the works. He followed the receptionist off into a separate block.

She gestured for him to sit in a chair on one side of a desk as she sat on the other, her hands in her lap, “Now we’re just going to do some background and health checks.”

He nodded, “I’m fairly well acquainted with the procedures.”

She pulled out a file, “Name?”

“Tavros Nitram.”

She furrowed her eyebrows and scratched her ear.

“Title?”

“The Follower.”

She glanced at him and then stood up, “If you’ll excuse me a moment, I left a form on my desk. Terribly sorry, sir.”

She left the room and The Mutineer shifted uncomfortably in his seat. After a moment of sitting in silence a large burly blueblood walked in the door and grabbed around The Mutineer’s arms.

“Hey! Hey let me go!”

The Mutineer struggled against his grip as he was dragged out of the room kicking at the troll with a firm hold on him. A hand fell over his mouth and nose and he began to panic pulling at the arms holding him as the world started to go blurry and dark. His limbs fell limp as the darkness encompassed his vision and he fell into unconsciousness. 

* * *

Halfsoul paced up and down his block in frustration, eyebrows furrowed. Why didn’t The Merciful _get_ it? The breakouts were happening for a reason. _The system wasn’t working_. Though his frustration was more for the fact that the Cull system took away so many resources that could be used for other things. Why should they have to care for the weaklings? If they were unable to take care of themselves they shouldn’t survive in the first place. He stared out the window at the passersby. He scowled and pulled his drapes shut before sitting down at his desk.

The outbreaks were only going to get worse. He didn’t know what The Merciful was playing at or why she seemed convinced that the system was going to work. The only real option was to either just kill every one of the culled or set them free, either way the survivors would be the ones that deserved to live in the first place. He sighed and stood up. It was almost midnight and he still had a shift to cover.

Halfsoul picked up his rifle and stalked out the door. He had far too many stops tonight and he was not in the mood for all of the sobbing wrigglers and half-grown trolls. He walked out to his livingblock to find his lusus sitting where he always did, “Seahorsedad, we’ve got to get goin’, so get your lazy ass up.”

He took ahold of his reins and as soon as he’d exited his hive, mounted up and took off to head towards the landdwellings. Hopefully most of the culled would have been out of their hives and off to the cull center by now. He landed at his first stop and watched as a little shitblood was dragged from his hive. He scoffed at the insults and pleas flying everywhere as he stepped into the doorway. He let the door close behind him and a tiny flash of white flew by, goddamnit. The tiny lusii were always a hassle.

He groaned and opened fire, a beam of light flying from the end of his rifle and putting huge scars along the walls as he aimed for the tiny little fucker. After about ten minutes of a cat and mouse game the little white blur of wings fell to the ground and he picked up the lusus’s dead body before returning to his own.

“I hate this job.” 

* * *

The Mutineer sat in a white sterile block with his head in his hands. He tried to feel for the presence of the animals he knew so well. There _had_ to be some outside the Cull Center. He felt around desperately. Trying to find any animal, any hop-beast, meow-beast, the smallest or the largest, anything. He needed to get a message to The Director, and _fast_. He sighed in exasperation. He needed to tell her that the authorities had figured them out, to tell her not to come looking for him, to tell her to get away as fast as she could. He groaned and stood up from the chair pacing around the block before shouting and kicking the wall.

“Damn it, damn it, _damn it_!”

He collapsed in the corner, pulling his head to rest on his knees, “Don’t come looking for me. Please, don’t come looking for-”

And explosion sounded down the hall and he ran to the door banging on it, “What’s going on out there!?”

An alarm began screeching and numerous footsteps could be heard in the outside corridor. An announcement echoed through that wing of the cull center, “Evacuate the B-wing, all personnel are to escort the residents of the B-wing to the recreation center.”

The door opened and one of the many escorts stood outside The Mutineer’s block, “Come with me, sir.”

                As the escort showed him out of the B-wing The Mutineer cast a glance over his shoulder. One of the walls had been blown out and crushed a girl it looked like, though he couldn’t see very well. For a moment he thought he saw red and blue flashes as a yellowblood was dragged down the other direction of the hallway, his head hung. The Mutineer frowned as he left the sterile white hall for the sterile white stairs. What on Beforus had _happened_? 

* * *

The Signless opened the door for The Countess with a scowl, “Good night, Countess.”

“Good night, K- Signless, have you filled out that paperwork I told you about?”

“No. I don’t want to apply for the Cull System.”

“Karkat, I know you don’t, but it’s law for all lowbloods to be examined. You have to apply, especially with your condition.”

“The fact that my blood doesn’t exist doesn’t mean that I’m weak!”

“I know that, darling. I know, but you’re just going to have to go along with it. Who knows, they might see you as non-eligible if it makes you feel any better.”

The Signless closed the door behind The Countess as she walked in, “Yeah like that’s going to happen. They take any opportunity to put any random kid in the system. I’d have to be able to fight off a giant meow-beast while blindfolded and performing a tap-dance number for them to see me as non-eligible.”

“Karka-“

“Title, Kanaya.”

“You are getting more indignant with every night I see you.”

“Yes, well it’s not like being polite is going to get me anywhere. Do you want some water or something? Or are you just here for a check-in and leave?”

The Countess smiled, any amount of hospitality from The Signless was an accomplishment in her book, “That would be much appreciated, thank you.”

The Signless sighed and headed into the nutritionblock, “So you’re sticking around. When are you planning and going to check on your empire of other wrigglers? Don’t they feel neglected what with all the time you spend bothering me?”

The Countess sat down at the counter of his nutritionblock as The Signless brought her a glass of water and leaned on the counter next to her. She chuckled as she sipped at her water, “Of course not. It seems that they don’t really think any better of me than you do.”

The Signless stared at the wall in thought, “Do you ever wonder why they keep the system in place if so many people don’t want it?”

The countess furrowed her eyebrows, “It’s simple really, it’s so that people who can’t care for themselves can be safe and happy.”

“See you’re just spewing propaganda now. Did The Ψiioniic seem like he couldn’t take care of himself to you? His only problem was the fact that he got headaches, but he could take care of those so long as he could be left alone. The Cull Center will _kill_ him if it hasn’t already. It’s been, what? Three sweeps now?”

“Karkat, I know that you miss him, but you are losing sight of the true purpose here. The Ψiioniic clearly needed to enter the Cull Center or else they wouldn’t have taken him in.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. He was fine before that, if a little hard to get along with sometimes. Face it, Kanaya, the Cull System is nothing but a prison to keep the lower classes under total control.”

The Signless pulled up a chair and sat down next to the countess, “But whatever you say, County.”

The countess rolled her eyes but smiled at the nickname, “Karkat, may I ask you something?”

“Sure, not like I can stop you.”

The Countess frowned and turned to him, “Do you hate me?”

The Signless furrowed his brow, “I… I don’t hate _you_. I hate what you stand for.”

“Would you miss me if I died?”

“Wait- whoa are you _dying_?”

The Countess smiled and shook her head, “No, I am simply curious as to your opinion of me.”

The Signless frowned at her, “I suppose I guess I don’t mind you. I mean… You piss me off to no end, but I guess you’re just kind of a constant.”

The Countess’s face seemed to fall and she nodded, “I see.”

The Signless sighed and leaned back in his chair, “What were you expecting? Me to say that you’re like a second custodian to me? That I love you and never want you to leave? You’re the one making me apply for the fucking Cull System two sweeps early. You’re the reason I can’t fucking _leave_ because I know you’d just try to hunt me down again before I could get five miles.”

“Oh please, you wouldn’t really try to run away.”

The Signless stared at The Countess, “You underestimate what I’d be willing to do to get out of being culled. I don’t think you understand what getting culled means to people like me. To you it’s just putting people somewhere safe. To me, it’s losing my rights and freedoms. It’s me getting shut up somewhere I don’t want to be for reasons out of my control. If I didn’t know you’d send someone after me I’d have been long gone by now.”

“You really hate the concept that much?”

“Not just the concept. Kanaya, I don’t want to go.”

“Would it be so bad?”

“Hell fucking yes. I don’t want to go somewhere where I can’t take care of my goddamn self. I don’t want to go somewhere where I can’t be free to do as I please and choose what I do with my time, or talk to who I want to talk to, or do something as simple as make my own fucking meals.”

The countess frowned and stood up, “Would you prefer it if I left now?”

The Signless shrugged, “You’re fine here I guess, I don’t really care.”

The countess leaned over and rested her chin on The Signless’s head, “I guess I’ll be going then.”

She kissed the Signless’s forehead and The Signless looked up at her, “Kanaya, why haven’t I gotten word from Sollux? He said he’d write me. It’s been three sweeps. Why hasn’t he written me?”

The Countess bit her lip, “I don’t know. Maybe he forgot. Or maybe his letter got lost.”

The Signless rested his elbows on the counter, “Whatever, guess that’s the one perk of my certain culling. Get to see him again.”

The Countess sighed and kissed the top of his head again before sighing, “I suppose so. Karkat, I’m not budging on the culling early. I need you to fill out those forms. Can you please have those done by tomorrow?”

The Signless let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding, “Fine. Just don’t expect me to be happy about it. And don’t expect us to be parting on the best terms. I’m still pissed at you about this whole thing.”

The Countess frowned and nodded, “Karkat, I hope you know that I _do_ care about you. I’m doing this for your own good.”

“Is tomorrow going to be my last night here?”

The Countess nodded again, “Yes.”

“Could you not stay around tomorrow?”

“Don’t do anything reckless.”

The Signless paused and nodded, “I won’t. I… I just want to have some time to say goodbyes.”

The Countess nodded and kissed The Signless’s forehead again, “Alright, I’ll come by tomorrow evening and then you won’t see me again until the next night.”

The Signless bobbed his head once, “Alright, then.”

The Countess mussed with The Signless’s hair before kissing his forehead one last time and walking out to the front door and leaving without a sound. The Signless rested his head on the table before walking up the stairs and into Crabdad’s block, “Hey, they’re gonna take me away in a few days.”

He sat down next to Crabdad and stroked up and down his enormous head, “They’re gonna kill you. I… I don’t want you to die. I know you’re already old and I know you’re not going to have anything to do without me around, but I don’t want you to die, dad.”

He closed his eyes and leaned against the familiar exoskeleton of his custodian, “I wish you could get away. Do you think you could run away during the day tomorrow? We could do fun things tomorrow night and then you could try to get out before they come to get me the next night.”

Crabdad clicked his claws a couple times before wrapping his front most arms around The Signless’s shoulders.

“Please promise me you’ll try?”

Crabdad gave a quick click and nuzzled The Signless’s head.

“Didn’t think so.”

He turned and hugged around Crabdad’s head, “I love you. I’m going to miss you. Please, please leave tomorrow day. I don’t want you to die. I can’t watch you die.”


	4. The Attempt and The Loss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone has a breaking point and The Ψiioniic isn't sure how much longer until he reaches his.
> 
> The Mutineer has an expected, but sobering reunion.
> 
> The Signless says goodbye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, we're just finishing up school so finals and projects and me finally getting over depression and some personal shit and... yeah. I'm feeling way better lately than I have for the past three months. It feels awesome to not want to die anymore and actually feel good and confidant about myself again. Well, enough of my bullshit. Y'all want chapters so have at them. I don't own Homestuck!

The Ψiioniic paced around his high-security block, his head killing him again. It’d become a regular weekly occurrence and he wasn’t sure how much more he could take. He wasn’t allowed out of the wing anymore. Hell, he wasn’t allowed out of his block without an enormous group of armed escorts.

His eyes flashed and he groaned in pain. He fell to the floor clutching at his head as another wave of pressure rolled through his eyes and he screamed in pain.

“You bathtardth are killing me!”

He knew they could hear him. They could always hear him. He banged a hand on the ground as another wave of pain ran through his head, “Let me out! Make it thtop! Make it thtop!”

His eyes flashed again and he screeched as the wall in front of him burned and singed black. He collapsed on the floor against the recuperacoon in the corner of the block.

“Do you like watching me thuffer!? Jutht let me go or let me die!”

He clawed at his head and pulled at his hair, “I’m not crathy! I’m not inthane. I wathn’t crathy until you ath’holeth brought me here! Do you like watching me die!? Do you get thome thort of thick pleathure from thith!? Jutht fucking kill me!”

He hugged his knees to his chest as yellow tears leaked down his face.

“Jutht kill me.”

He sat there holding his knees, mumbling to himself and rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet.

“I jutht want to go home.”

He stopped shaking and sat deadly still and silent for half a second before scooting himself over to the door and letting loose a display of red and blue flashing lights against the metal door.

“ _Let me out!_ ”

The metal of the door began to melt away at the heat of the blue and red force. A hole slowly widened in the door and he ducked out, sprinting down the hallway. A red and blue field surrounded him as he made a run for the exit. He needed out, and he needed out _now_.

He ran down the stairs and into a corridor. He stopped and spun around searching for an exit. He could hear footsteps running down the hall behind him as he made a dash for the nearest door.

He burst into a large block filled with hundreds of trolls simply talking and enjoying what little free time they had. Men, women, and androgynes all looked up from what they were doing backing away from the scene. He ran through the crowd searching for any sort of exit, stopping when he came face to face with a wall.

The Ψiioniic whipped around and growled as the Imperial escorts surrounded him. His eyes flared dangerously as they cornered him. He snarled at them like a wild animal as he let loose an explosion of psionics and the escorts surrounding him burned to a crisp. He stared coldly at the surrounding spectators, making quick eye contact with a few of them. So many people who’d had their lives ripped from them.

His face seemed to soften as he looked from person to person. It had been nearly three sweeps since he’d seen a living soul that didn’t simply see him as a rabid beast. On the contrary, these people seemed to be, for the most part, in awe.

From somewhere in the crowd someone clapped their hands, breaking the silence. The Ψiioniic looked to the sound and there stood a rather tall brownblood who continued to clap. The girl with wild hair next to him began to clap as well. More and more people joined in until a block full of applause echoed around the walls while a second group of escorts rushed in, armed this time.

The Ψiioniic looked up in fury, “Ha! Are you shitheadth going to finally kill me!? Go ahead! Thee if I care! Kill me, ath’holeth!”

There was a sharp pain in his arm and he looked down. Shit. That wasn’t a bullet.

He looked back up and the world started to go blurry.

Suddenly he was on the floor and feet rushed towards him. His eyes fell closed and the only thought running through his head was, “Please god no.” 

* * *

Approximately three sweeps earlier, The Mutineer wandered through the recreational center of his assigned wing of the Cull Center. He sighed as he aimlessly meandered through the open space. He been there more than a perigee already and hadn’t found a way to contact the Director. He paced up and down the side of the room, pulling at his hair when he bumped into someone. Someone with wild hair and familiar maroon eyes.

“Aradia! I told you not to look for me!”

The Director looked up at him and shrugged, “You’re the moron who didn’t come back.”

“I got _culled_!”

She looked up at him unimpressed, “Your bad, then.”

The Mutineer sighed in frustration, “This place sucks.”

The Director nodded, “Yeah, that’s why we’ve got to get the hell out, dweeb.”

The Mutineer chuckled and picked her up to hug her before setting her back down and leaning in to peck her nose.

“I missed you.”

She flicked his forehead, “I missed you too, dumb-butt.”

He laughed and kissed the crown of her head before holding onto both of her hands and resting his own forehead against hers, “So how are we gonna get out, oh wise Director?”

The Director looked up at him with raised eyebrows, “You’re expecting _me_ to figure this shit out?”

The Mutineer chuckled and pecked her nose again, “Well, yeah. You’ve always been better at planning these sorts of things than me.”

The Director bit her lip and looked up at him with a grimace, “In all honesty, I’m not sure how we’re gonna get out of this one.”

The Mutineer blinked, “You- but you- You always have a plan. You’re The Director.”

She looked up at him, “I have nothing to work with, no maps, no weapons, and no contact on the inside. Tav, we’re on our own, and we’re stuck.”

The Mutineer looked down at her, confusion apparent on his face. He’d always known this was a possibility, getting culled, but it had always seemed unlikely. They… They were the good guys, bringing freedom to thousands across Beforus. They were the heroes. They got away even in the direst situations. They were the knights in shining armor, the noble thieves, the liberators, the do-gooders. They weren’t the ones who lost in the end. They were the ones who got a happy ending.

“Wait- you- you mean we’re not getting out?”

The Director chewed on her lower lip and nodded, “Unless we can find someone willing to help who’s crazy strong or on the inside.”

The Mutineer bit his lip as he took her hands, “At least we’re together again.”

She nodded and smiled up at him, “That we are.”

He leaned down and kissed her forehead once more before whispering, “Pale for you.”

She smiled and leaned up to kiss The Mutineer’s cheek, “Pale for you, too.” 

* * *

Three sweeps later, The Signless shoved Crabdad’s head through the doorway, “Stop being so fucking stubborn! You have to get out of here!”

The moon had just begun to set and if his lusus was going to get away and escape being killed and fed to the empress’s custodian it had to be now while the sun still hadn’t risen so that he might be able to find some shelter.

“Dad, get out the fucking door!”

He looked up at the sky fearfully as it began to grow brighter with the lethal Beforan sun peaking up the slightest bit on the horizon. The Signless desperately shoved at him as tears started to well up in his eyes, “Crabdad, please just get out.”

He let go and kneeled on the floor next to him, “They’re gonna kill you. You have to go.”

The huge crustacean clicked his teeth together in worry as he laid a claw over The Signless’s shoulders and held him close as The Signless finally broke down in his custodian’s arms. He looked up as the sky lightened and he closed the front door to block out the deadly light dejectedly. He ran his hands over his custodian’s back as he led him up the stairs to his block where he curled up in the corner. The Signless walked over and laid down next to his lusus, resting his head on Crabdad’s back. He preferred to spend the last day with his custodian sleeping by his side.

He let the sound of clicking lull him to his last sleep in his own hive.

The next evening The Signless awoke to the sound of knocking on his door. He stood up slowly in a daze as he walked down the stairs. Everything seemed to be moving far too slowly, but yet suddenly he found himself at the bottom of the stairs, when had that happened?

He gripped the door handle as the scuttling of his lusus coming down the stairs sounded. He turned the handle and pulled the door open to be greeted by The Countess, a group of Escorts and a rather menacing and grumpy looking seadweller.

The Signless glared up at The Countess in some confused combination of rage, betrayal, hurt, and desperation.

“Don’t bother visiting me, Countess.”

He stepped out the door and past her, avoiding eye contact with The Countess as the escorts took ahold of each of his arms. The seadweller scoffed as he walked in the hive and a bright light flashed, followed by a pained screech. He exited the hive as if nothing had happened and began to walk away. The Signless felt his eyes grow hot and he growled before spitting at the troll who’d just killed his lusus, “You fucking bastard.”

He glared at him as his throat began to tighten up and he let the escorts drag him away. He lowered his head as he was forced into the back of the transport vehicle alongside other culled trolls with broken faces and defeated eyes. 

* * *

The Mutineer turned to The Director as an incredibly powerful yellowblood was dragged away.

“We need to get him out.”

The Director looked up at him and furrowed her eyebrows, “There’s no way that we can get him out of wherever he is. Not unless he can do… whatever he just did… again.”

The Mutineer bit his lip in thought, “He could help so many people get out.”

The Director nodded, “If we can get him out then we could free half the _center_. But there’s only a few situations in which he would be let go, even for a little while.”

The Mutineer nodded, “I hope the procedures here are the same as the other centers. If there’s ever an evacuation we’ll need to be quick to get people out. Him in particular. Imagine! He was probably in one of the highest security blocks! If he could break out of one of those, he could easily blast through the walls of the center no problem.”

“If he’s willing.”

“Please, most people here would die for freedom.”

The Director nodded, “I guess we’ll just have to wait for some sort of emergency.”

“But who knows how long that could be!?”

“We’ve been here for sweeps already, what’s a few more?”

The Mutineer nodded with a sigh, “I suppose.”

The Director grinned at him, “So we’ve finally got a plan then?’

The Mutineer quirked a smile in return, “Hell yeah, we do.”


	5. The meeting and the Seadweller

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Signless meets The Mutineer and The Director. Halfsoul and Her Imperious Mercifulness have some issues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this took so long, lots of shit happened and my fics got put on hold, but here. Have a chapter!

The Signless paced around the block, irritated. He had nothing to do, only a night in the Cull Center and he was bored already. He sighed as he laid down on the floor, staring at the ceiling. He rolled over onto his stomach and picked himself up before walking over to the desk on the side of the room. He sighed as he grabbed the pen from the tabletop and clicked it open. He laid back down on the floor and started clicking the pen opened and closed in utter and complete boredom.

He groaned as he sat up and then seated himself at his desk, the only things on it were pens paper, envelopes, some parkers, and of course the Cull Center Rules and Guidelines pamphlet. He sighed and picked up one of the markers uncapping it and twirling it between his fingers. He looked up at the blank white walls, down at the Guidelines which he’d read about ten times out of boredom, and then back up at the walls. At least it didn’t say anything about not… customizing his block.

He picked up a few markers and angrily began drawing sloppy sketches over his walls. Stupid little images of his old life. Him with Crabdad, him and the Ψiioniic, his old hive, anything he could think of really. He didn’t want to forget that life. He wanted to remember that there _is_ something outside these walls, that the first 8 sweeps of his life hadn’t been simply a dream.

He grew more and more furious as he drew over the walls until soon he was doing nothing but scribbling bright red and growling before throwing the marker across the room and kicking the door with a shout, “ _Get me out of here!_ ”

He snarled and kicked the wall yet again, and again, and again, and again, until he was pretty sure he’d either bruised or broken his foot. He collapsed on the floor in frustration, staring at the ceiling. He wasn’t sure how long he’d laid there before the sound of the door opening forced him to look up from where he laid on the floor.

“The fuck do you want?” He asked, not bothering to stand up from the floor.

A young man stood in the doorway before sighing, “I’m here to escort you to the recreational center. Is there anything you need before we depart?”

The Signless sighed and shook his head, “Not unless you can get me out of here and by ‘here’ I mean the whole fucking center… Actually…. I do have a question.”

The Escort raised his eyebrows, “I’ll do my best to answer.”

“Do you know if a Sollux Captor, also known as ‘The Ψiioniic’ is here and still… you know… alive?”

The Escort stared at him as if he’d grown a second head, “How do you know about Captor? You’ve only arrived this morning.”

The Signless looked up, “What’s that got to do with anything? I want to know if my fucking friend is still alive.”

“That is classified information.”

“Classified? Why the fuck is the state of well-being of my fucking best friend classified infor- oh. Oh god,” The Signless stood up from the floor eyes wide, “You bastards fucking killed him didn’t you!?”

“That is also classified information.”

The Signless stalked up to The Escort and had to fight the urge to reach a hand around his neck and squeeze until the guy passed out, he settled for leaning in menacingly close, despite the fact that he was so much shorter. He stared up at him with deadly serious eyes, “If my fucking friend is dead, you fuckers are going to have one hell of a time dealing with me. I will _rip_ you shitheads apart.”

The Escort gripped something on his belt before The Signless backed up again, still glaring at him.

“If that is all, I will now escort you down to the recreational facility.”

“Whatever, dickbag.”

And with that The Signless was led down halls and stairs into a large block filled with people, some in the Cull Center patient jumpsuits, and others in the typical Escort uniform. He glanced around at the enormous block feeling somewhat lost. The space was littered with tables, exercise equipment, different artistic supplies, a set of bookshelves in the corner, and by god was it _loud_. Everyone seemed to be bustling about. He had no clue how long he got to be here or what exactly he was doing, but fuck if he wasn’t going to use his time to be around other people well. He sat down at one of the tables which, like the personal blocks, held an assortments of pens, markers, pencils, and paper. It was quite obviously the least populated table in the block. He picked up a pen and a piece of paper as he looked over at the only two other trolls at the table, both huddling over the same paper. The Signless scooted over a little to see what it was they were doing and he cleared his throat, “Hi, what are you two doing?”

The two trolls, both clearly some sort of rustblood, looked up. The girl with the wild hair grinned and piped up, “Plotting the downfall of the Cull System.”

The Signless blinked and sat stunned for a moment before laughing sarcastically as the boy next to her nervously glanced over his shoulder.

“Ha, funny, seriously what are you two doing?”

The boy looked at him dead serious this time, “No actually, we’re, uh, we’re gonna try to get everyone who wants out of here, out of here.”

The Signless blinked again, “Wait, how? I mean, this place is fucking security tight. No one gets in and out of these places without help from the staff. I mean, I’ve heard of a couple places having massive breakouts, but this place…”

The girl glanced up at the boy and then turned back to The Signless, “Well, we’ve done it before, don’t see why we can’t do it again,” She put down the pencil she’d been sketching with and held out a hand to The Signless, “I’m The Director.”

The Signless’s eyes went wide as he took her hand to shake it, “Holy shit.”

The boy next to her smirked and offered his own hand, “The Mutineer.”

The Signless took The Mutineer’s hand as well, shaking it quickly, “The Signless, fucking sweet to meet you two.”

He leaned forwards on the table to glance at their drawing, “So what’s that?”

The Director looked up at him, “It’s a map of what we’ve seen of the Cull Center so far, we need to find a place where the wall leads directly to the outside. There’s a troll in a high security block with amazing psychic abilities who could easily blow through a wall. Problem is, we have to wait for an emergency evacuation in order to get him out because that’s the only time that the high security blocks are emptied. Even when escorting a culled from one facility to another, they do it with large insulated cages and restraining orders.”

The Signless stared for a moment, “Did this powerful psychic happen to be able to shoot red and blue lights and have mismatched eyes, a horrible lisp, two sets of horns, and go by the title ‘The Ψiioniic’ and the name Sollux Captor?”

The Mutineer looked up at him, “Well I don’t know about the name, title or lisp, but the guy was definitely shooting red and blue like there was no tomorrow, and it did _look_ like he had four horns, and his glasses lenses were mismatched so I guess that fits your description?”

The Signless ran a hand through his hair and leaned back against his seat, “Holy fuck, he’s alive.”

The Director cocked her head at him, “You know him?”

The Signless nodded furiously, “He was pretty much my best friend when I was a wriggler. Then he got culled for his ‘disability’ which is the fact that he gets crippling migraines when he can’t let the energy out of his goddamn eyes or whenever the voices in his head get a little too loud. I’d imagine this place is probably killing him.”

The Mutineer and The Director shared a glance before The Director spoke up, “Well we’re getting him out of here first chance we get. Everyone who wants to is getting out.”

The Signless grinned, “So what’s your plan so far?”

The Mutineer cleared his throat and pointed at the map, “Well, we’re here. If there’s ever an, uh, emergency evacuation, they have to open all the doors and they post ten or twenty escorts outside each one to keep us all in line, which is why we’re going to need the psychic. He’ll be able to blow a hole in the wall large enough to get people out of the center and run off to wherever they need to go. The high-security chambers will be opened as well for the safety of the prisoner- I’m sorry, the uh, patient- and so we’ll have to go and find him. It’ll be hard to get to him through the crowds of people, so The Director here is going to explain the situation to everyone as best she can and then hopefully they’ll stop heading to the doors in order to follow us to the blast destination. We’ve determined that,” He pointed to the wall on the far side of the block, “That wall is the one that’s directly on the edge of the cull center. We should be able to get out and run.”

The Signless nodded along, eyebrows furrowed, “So we have to wait for an emergency. What constitutes an emergency?”

The Director sighed, “Well, that’s the problem. The only things that will lead to evacuation is major fire, a shooting, or a bombing. All of which are highly unlikely considering that the building is made of inflammable material. So we could be waiting for sweeps.”

“But,” The Mutineer piped up, “That means we’ll have plenty of time to prepare.”

The Signless grinned, “Great. Can I be in on this? I’ll help out any way I can. I want out of this fucking hellhole.”

The Director and The Mutineer looked at each other with a grin before turning back to The Signless.

“We can use all the help we can get,” She said.

The Mutineer reached out a hand and The Signless took it shaking his hand, and then repeating the process with The Director.

“Welcome to the team.” 

* * *

A night Earlier, Halfsoul stared out the window of the block he and The Merciful shared. They’d just ended another argument over the cull system and Halfsoul was in a foul mood. He growled and kicked at the coon in the corner of the room. He hated the evening fights. They left him bitter and angry all night long.

He picked up his rifle and stalked out of the block. He had a schedule to keep. He hurried down stairs and walked up to his custodian, swinging his leg over his back and riding off to his first destination. He arrived as the escorts showed up. Oh dear god it was always so much more annoying with the culled troll still there. He rolled his eyes as he unhooked his rifle from his back and he approached the door the escorts had just knocked on. He waited in the midst of the group as a small troll, maybe 5’ if that, glared at the Jadeblood standing in front of the escorts. They exchanged a few comments and remarks before Halfsoul stepped past the seemingly unremarkable culled troll and into the hive as the escorts took ahold of the small troll.

He headed in to find an enormous white almost bi-pedal crab. He stared at it a moment before taking aim and shooting through its skull. The color that spattered the walls surprised him. A bright streak of red. Not maroon, but bright red sprayed and dripped from the walls and the clean hole in the beast’s head.

He kept his expression nonchalant as he walked out past the culled troll who he glanced at just long enough to see him glaring. He rolled his eyes as the mutant troll called him some name or other and spat on his shoes. He walked away, wiping his shoe on the grass and climbing onto his lusus’s back. He couldn’t pretend that he hadn’t noticed the abnormal color. It would stick out in his memory for a long time.

That was probably the reason he was being culled. God he hated the system. All these people did was mooch off the system. They became nothing but leeches on society and they all deserved to just die as they should in natural selection. The strong would survive and all would be right.

He spurred his lusus and he took off, the color red still hanging in his mind. It was so unnatural and eye-catching. He went on his way, culling lusus after lusus for the cleaning crew to come in and pick up to feed to Her Imperious Mercifulness’s lusus. He frowned as he arrived back at the palace heading up the stairs to their block again, hoping that she’d be there. He could use some stress relief about now.

He threw the doors of their block open and one of the corners of his lips perked up at the sight of her at her desk. He walked up behind her and draped his arms around her shoulders, “mornin’ Fef.”

She brushed him away, bristling, “Eridan, I don’t need this right now.”

Halfsoul sighed and leaned down and kissed at her jaw, “You sound tired.”

“Eridan. I said to leave me alone right now. I’ve got work to do.”

“Work on what? That cull system a’ yours? That can wait, it’s fallin’ to pieces anyways.”

Feferi huffed and swatted at him, “I’m not in the mood. Eridan, leave me alone or I’ll have the guards escort you out.”

He sighed and let go of her planting another kiss on her cheek before running his fingers through her hair. She relaxed a little as he just stroked through her hair. Sometimes their relationship seemed to go back to what it used to be, something far more pale. Halfsoul braided and twisted The Merciful’s hair, then he unbraided it, stroking his fingers through the long dark locks. She smiled at the affection as she wrote a few quick letters before pulling away from the desk, turning around in her chair, glancing up at Halfsoul with a faint smile.

“You really do know the way to a girl’s bloodpusher, don’t you?”

Halfsoul kneeled down in front of her, resting his elbows on her knees, “What can I say? You got some fine hair.”

She chuckled as Halfsoul leaned up a little to kiss her softly, pressing his lips against her cold lips. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders and he chirped contentedly. He tilted his head to nip at her lips a little before getting to his feet and pushing her back against her chair, his hands coming up to brace on her shoulders. He sucked at her mouth hungrily as she returned the favor, the empress’s sharp teeth grazing over his lips before he gripped at her collar and pulled her up so that he could press her back against the desk, her legs pressing into the edge.

He could feel her smirk against his lips before she turned them around and pressed Halfsoul down against the desk, his back bending almost unnaturally, fins flared out in surprise.

And then she pulled away, “That’s all today. I don’t feel up to it.”

She planted a soft peck on his cheek that really seemed even less than pale, reluctant even. She turned and walked back to her coon where she pulled off her dress and draped it over the chair beside the coon, leaving her in her undergarments. She stepped in and sunk down in the green slime.

Halfsoul stared longingly after her before sighing and standing up. He couldn’t deny that he’d been hoping for more. She seemed more and more reluctant to pail with him as of late and he couldn’t help but find himself a little frustrated with her. He pulled his own clothes off, tossing the many layers onto the chair next to hers and then sinking into the slime beside her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders, letting them both drift off into a deep sopor-induced sleep.


	6. The Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything does not go according to plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for death and gore.

Her Imperious Mercifulness paced around her block chewing her lips in thought. She’d come to look forwards to the time when Halfsoul would leave her on her own. It was concerning how much she’d begun to dread seeing her matesprit. All they ever seemed to do was argue. They’d worked so well before. Sure they’d butt heads over the cull system sometimes, but all the same they’d gotten on well enough.

She sighed and sat at her desk with her head in her hands. She felt her gut clench as someone turned the handle on her door. She stood up as Halfsoul walked in the door irritably.

“Eridan, we have to talk.”

He stopped in his tracks and blinked, “What d’you mean we ‘have to talk’?”

She sighed again, “I mean that _this_ ,” She gestured vaguely between herself and Halfsoul, “Isn’t working for me anymore.”

“You- What? Not workin’-? We work out fine, don’t we?”

She sighed and shook her head averting her eyes and glancing at the floor before looking back up at him, “No. We don’t. We argue _all_ the time and it’s exhausting. Nothing but argue argue argue every time I see you! It’s killing me and I don’t want to deal with it anymore.”

“We don’t _just_ argue, Fef. We do other things.”

“It _feels_ like we argue more than anything else and that’s not something I want in a relationship.”

“Fef, look, The only reason we fight is because you always bring up your work.”

She laughed bitterly, “So now it’s my fault. It takes two to start a fight, Eridan! If you didn’t always argue with me about the system this wouldn’t be an issue I can’t _do_ this anymore! It’s stressing me out so much that I started _dreading_ when you get home!”

Halfsoul blinked at her, “You- What?”

“I always know you’re either just going to complain and argue with me over the system or you’re going to try and get in my pants! Listen, I’m not always in the mood especially when you’re acting like a jerk!”

“Fef, I can-”

“Eridan, I’m done with this relationship. I’m stressed all the time, and you just add to it. I can’t _do_ this anymore. We’re done.”

Halfsoul blinked as he stared at her, “I- you- But I-”

“I said we’re over. You can pack your things and move back into the orphaner wing.”

“Fef- Fef please.”

“ _Out_!” She pointed to the door, “It’s over. Now pack up and get out of my block!”

Halfsoul stared again and his face darkened. He turned to start digging through her closet, pulling out his clothes and the rest of his belongings. He threw them into the bag he’d moved in with and he stalked out of the block and into the hall, slamming the door behind him.

Her Imperious Mercifulness collapsed at her desk with a sigh and her shoulders shook as she started crying, wiping her tears off her face as she ran a hand through her hair worried that Halfsoul might do something rash.

She was right to be worried.

* * *

Halfsoul kicked at the wall of his block, frustrated. He sat himself down on the floor of his block. He stood up again pacing up and down his block fuming. The only thing stopping him had been his matesprit. He glared at the floor and walked over to where he kept his rifle beside his coon, picking up the weapon and swinging it over his shoulder before walking out the door.

He didn’t need this place anymore. He didn’t need anyone anymore. He stormed out of the Royal Palace and Barracks down to the stables where he gripped his Custodian’s reins and swung up onto his back, riding off towards the nearest and- not so coincidentally- largest Cull Center on the planet.

Halfsoul’s face darkened as it came into sight. His conviction only grew as he approached the center. The looming white building rising on the horizon.

* * *

The Signless glanced up at the sound of his door opening and he raised his eyebrows as The Countess walked in, opting to ignore her in favor of continuing to sketch on the walls.

“Karkat.”

He ignored her, clenching his jaw as he carefully outlined a picture of Sollux. Over the past perigee he’d gotten much better at drawing seeing as he had very little else to do most nights.

“Karkat, would you please look at me?”

“I thought I told you not to bother visiting.” He pulled out a marker and began coloring the small drawing.

“Of course I came to visit, how could I not?”

“Oh, I don’t know. By not coming to fucking visit me? You’re not wanted. Leave me alone.”

The Signless set down his markers and leaned against one of the blank spots on the wall.

“Karkat, as your sponsor I do actually have some legal business to discuss with you.”

He sighed and closed his eyes tiredly, “Make it quick.”

The Countess pulled up the chair from The Signless’s desk and sat down, “I have some more paperwork to fill out that I thought I ought to consult you about.”

“Just get on with it.”

The Countess nodded tightly and pulled a binder out of her bag, “Well firstly there’s the prospect of your title. This is your last chance to change it legally.”

The Signless rolled his eyes, “I’m not changing my title to ‘The Pitiable’, Countess. I know you think it’s perfect, but actually fuck you.”

The Countess sighed, “Alright.” She scribbled something down and looked back up at him, “I’m also supposed to ask you what you’d like them to do with your body in the case of your death.”

“Just toss me in the woods somewhere. Throw me in a river. I don’t give a shit.”

The Countess rolled her eyes at him, “Perhaps I should have specified your options here. You can have your body burned, given up for research and medical education, ejected into space, stuffed, or fed to Gl'bgolyb.”

The Signless sighed, “Give me to research. Might as well get some use out of my corpse.”

The Countess nodded and selected the appropriate option, “I’ve got one last request for you.”

The Signless raised his eyebrows at her as she fidgeted with her skirt, “Unfortunately due to your condition, I’m required to have you sign a contract to restrict your sexual activities.”

The Signless blinked at her and stared for a moment, “And when you say ‘restrict’ you mean…?”

“You aren’t permitted to pail another troll to keep your genetics out of the gene pool.”

“ _What_!?”

“I’m sorry, but the authorities spent a lot of time debating this point and they decided that because we don’t know what the health implications are for your blood color it might be best you not pail anyone.”

“I’m not signing that.”

“Karkat, you are required by _law_ to sign it.”

“How am I even supposed to pail in this place? I only get to see people one hour every night and I’m locked in here the rest of the night and day. There’s quite literally no way for me to pail anymore. I’m probably going to die a virgin.”

“Then I don’t understand your reservations.”

“It’s the principal. I’m not letting the empire control my sexual life. They’ve already got me locked up here. I’m not letting them legally bind me so I can’t fucking pail who I want.”

The Countess frowned and glanced down at the paper in her hands before clearing her throat, “Karkat, I don’t think you understand. It’s either you sign this agreement or they… well they make it impossible for you to pail.”

“They what?”

“They make it so you are physically unable to pail anyone.”

“Kanaya, tell me exactly what the fuck they’re going to do if I say no.”

The Countess shifted uncomfortably in her seat as she glanced down at the form in her hands and began to read, “Refusal to consent to the above listed statements will result in the permanent removal of the Genetic Excretionary gland, the permanent severing of the bonebulge ejaculation shaft and the permanent searing shut of the Genetic opening.”

“So they’re basically going to A: make it so I can’t orgasm, B: Cut off my bulge, and C: Burn my nook closed? Fucking great.” He sighed and reached out a hand, “Give me the form.”

The Countess handed him the paperwork and pen. He sighed before signing his name at the bottom of the page before handing it back to her.

The Countess sighed as if she’d just performed some difficult task, “And that’s all.”

The Signless nodded and leaned back against the wall, “You leaving now?”

“If you want me to.”

The Signless shrugged, “I don’t really give a shit.”

The Countess nodded as she filed the papers back in her folder, “So how are you adjusting?"

The Signless shrugged again, “This place sucks just as much as I expected it to. Maybe even more.”

He sighed and closed his eyes, “I haven’t seen Sollux. Apparently he’s in high-security.”

The Countess frowned, “I’m sorry to hear that. I know you were looking forwards to seeing him again.”

He nodded, “Yeah. They’re probably killing him. He can’t stay cooped up like that.”

“I’m sure he’s fine.”

The Signless raised his eyebrows, “That’s not what I’ve heard.”

“Care to elaborate?”

He laughed bitterly, “Apparently he had a major meltdown a while ago and broke out. Heard he was asking them to kill him and he had this extreme outburst.”

The Countess frowned, “It’s probably best he stay here then. It sounds like he has some mental issues.”

“Yeah, that this place _gave_ him! Literally the only things keeping me from going completely insane in this place is the fact that I’ve got markers to draw with, and the recreation hour. The rest of the time I just want to claw my face off I’m so bored.”

The Countess’s frown deepened and she hummed in acknowledgement, ‘Karkat, you really shouldn’t be thinking like that, no wonder they deemed you eligib-”

“Oh so you’re blaming me? I had _no_ issues with this sort of thing until I fucking got here. It’s your fault I’m here!”

“Don’t raise your voice at me.”

“No. You know what? I’m fucking pissed at you. My custodian is dead because of you! I’m stuck in this hellhole right now because _you_ made me apply early! I’m not allowed to pail anyone because of you! I am not going to have my basic rights because you put me in here! I could have been home right now, but you had to fuck up my whole life! If it weren’t for you I’d be fucking gone right now. Out the door. Probably living out in the middle of nowhere, but at least I wouldn’t be here and at least my custodian would still be alive!”

The Signless had stood up, shouting at The Countess nigh predatorily, towering over her.

“I don’t belong in here! No one belongs in here! You have no fucking clue what it’s like! I’m treated like a fucking mindless animal and I’m going insane!”

“Karkat, sit down.”

“No, fuck you! Get out of my life!”

“Karkat. _Sit_ down.”

“Get out!”

The Countess sighed and stood up before knocking on the door and being escorted from the building.

The Signless growled and kicked at his desk before kicking it again and slamming his hands against the desk before falling to the floor and putting his head in his arms.

* * *

Halfsoul dismounted his lusus, cape falling to the ground behind him as he pulled his rifle from his back and slowly walked up to the Cull Center.

He was finished with protecting Her Imperious Mercifulness from the truth. He was finished with coddling the people who should have died. It was time to set things straight.

He kicked open the door, an alarm blaring as a couple of teal bloods rushed out from the back to try to force him out of the building.

Halfsoul fired a beam of light from the end of his rifle, shooting a hole through one of them and swinging the gun which sliced through the other’s abdomen. He trod over their corpses, kicking them out of the way as he strode past.

* * *

The Signless sat at the usual table with The Mutineer and The Director, sketching on the paper with some pencils as he had for the past several perigees. He was in the middle of sketching a picture of The Mutineer’s face when the explosion sounded and the speakers crackled to life.

“This is an emergency evacuation. Please proceed in a calm orderly fashion to the nearest exit.”

The Signless glanced up at The Director and The Mutineer before standing up, “Meet back here in ten minutes tops.”

He ran off down the hallway that The Director had instructed him when they’d first started hatching this plan. He followed the signs to the high-security blocks. All sorts of trolls fled down the hallway as he sprinted upstream, frantically looking around and calling out, “Sollux! Sollux! Ψiioniic!”

“KK?”

* * *

The Ψiioniic sat curled up in his block, his hands over his ears as he rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. He kept mumbling to himself until he startled at the sound of an explosion outside and a speaker sounding through the building.

He blinked as the door to his block opened up and he stumbled towards the door, his eyes adjusting to the flashing red lights as he started down the hallway bewilderedly. He found himself lost in the crowd before he heard someone calling his name and title,

He turned to see a familiar short figure of a hot-blooded troll, “KK?”

The Signless glanced up and ran towards The Ψiioniic, taking his hand and dragging him off, “Hey, we’re getting out of here. We’re getting _everyone_ out of here.”

“KK, where the hell are we going?”

“Recreation Center. We need you to blow a hole in the wall, then we’re all getting out. We’ll have time to catch up later.”

The Ψiioniic stared around at everyone wide-eyed as he followed The Signless through the crowds.

“Tho what am I blowing up exthactly and how much?”

“We need a pretty good-sized hole in the wall on the east side of the Recreational Block.”

“Got it.” He glanced over at The Signless, “It’th good to thee you again, KK.”

The Signless quirked a grin and glanced back at him, “It’s good to see you too.”

The Signless tugged The Ψiioniic along into the Recreational Center where The Mutineer and The Director herded anyone who wanted out. The Ψiioniic looked up at the wall before grinning and letting loose an enormous blast of energy, breaking through the first layer of the wall with ease.

The Signless grinned right alongside him as the wall started to give out and a small hole appeared.

But his blood ran cold at the sound of the door being slammed open and the loud electric buzz of a bolt of light slicing through the crowd.

* * *

Halfsoul strode through the hallway, squeezing the trigger over and over again, a bolt of light piercing anything that moved, rainbow staining the walls and to anyone else the smell of death and blood would be enough to leave them nauseated and retching against the wall.

He kicked a set of double-doors open to find a block populated with hundreds of culled trolls, one blasting red and blue lights against the wall.

Halfsoul pulled the trigger again and a beam of light pierced the crowd and he swung the barrel of the gun around slicing clean through the people closest to the door.

The yellow-blooded Psionic whipped around and let forth a blast of energy. Halfsoul barely managed to return fire, sending him skittering back as he kept up the beam of light, keeping him from being completely obliterated in the meeting of white against red and blue.

* * *

The Ψiioniic kept blasting against the wall before the sound of a shot of plasma into the crowd broke his concentration. He snarled and his eyes flashed explosively and he grinned. God, it felt good to let this out.

A blast of red and blue exploded against the wall behind him as he tried to break through the wall. The whole had grown large enough for one or two people to fit through.

* * *

The Mutineer glanced up as the shooter arrived in the building. He ran off to start herding people out through the hole in the wall as it crumbled open wider and people fled out into the world outside the cull center.

The Mutineer glanced back at The Ψiioniic as he helped people out of the center.

* * *

The Director followed along behind The Mutineer, hurrying people out of the building, glancing over her shoulder at The Ψiioniic whose eyes flashed quicker and more violently. She watched as he gripped his head between his hands and a loud pained cry was all the warning she had before a bright flash of red and blue exploded in her face and she was thrown against a wall, intense heat searing across her skin as she heard someone very familiar calling her name before everything went black.

* * *

The Mutineer looked over at the sound of a screech from The Ψiioniic just in time to watch The Director be thrown against the wall, her skin burning to a black crisp as he ran to her, “ _Aradia!_ ”

He watched her fall to the floor and he kneeled next to her, shaking her by the shoulders as her front smoked, “Aradia! Aradia wake up!”

He glanced up at the sound of another loud cry of agony from The Ψiioniic before another blast threw him against the wall and he hit his head as people trampled over each other in a mad dash for the exit. People stepped over and on him as they ran for the hole in the wall and he lay on the floor, his vision starting to blur and all that seemed to register was the intense pain all over his back and head, face down on the floor.

* * *

The Ψiioniic’s eyes flashed faster and he held his head in his hands. He couldn’t hold back at all and he let out a scream as his eyes flashed painfully and a burst of energy exploded in the direct vicinity, throwing everyone near him against the wall, burning many of them alive. He looked up again, explosive red flying towards the shooter. He kept it up, feeling nigh blind in one eye as the flashes of red light exploded again, smaller this time. People were thrown against the walls again as he lost control. He couldn’t see. Everything was so loud. He couldn’t tell what was screaming in his head and what was people really screaming.

He collapsed to his knees as the shooter came closer, the white plasma fighting against red psionics, blue seeming to have shorted out.

He screamed again as he stopped trying to hold back, the red flaring out of control.

“Everyone _get out!_ ” Someone that sounded painfully like The Signless screamed.

The Ψiioniic let out a last explosion and the red flickered away before everything went black and he fell to the floor, his mind going blank.

He couldn’t even think anymore.

* * *

The Signless watched wide-eyed as The Ψiioniic fell to his knees before passing out, red flaring through the air.

“Everybody _get out!_ ”

He sprinted for the hole in the wall as red exploded behind him, throwing him forwards, stumbling as the heat on his back burned away the fabric of his Cull Center jumpsuit and searing his back bright red. He found himself tumbling down a hill with a yelp, his back in scalding pain as he fell down the hill, hitting tree roots, rocks, falling through bushes, and finally coming to a stop at the base of the hill having blacked out halfway down when his head hit a rock.

He lay unconscious. His mutant blood seeped into the dirt, leaving him in a pool of his own shame.

* * *

Halfsoul glared as the blue lights exploded and flickered away and he slowly approached as he overpowered the psionic, keeping up the stream of light that sliced through the red. His eyes widened as the scarlet light exploded and he was thrown back several feet and he blacked out briefly before groaning and getting to his feet again, half the trolls in the center now having fled out through the hole in the wall.

He glanced behind him as a number of the Cull Center escorts arrived and he whipped around, the beam of light slicing through them as he fled through the hole in the wall as well, shoving people out of the way, nailing a few in the gut with the butt of his gun.

He sprinted down the hill, managing to keep from tripping and falling as he ran into the forest below.

He wasn’t sticking around to be culled or executed.

He panted as he ran through the woods until he felt his breathing grow short and his legs wobbling before giving out, falling to his knees in the middle of the forest as exhaustion caught up with him, the adrenaline fading.

And he welcomed the dark blurring around the edges of his vision, passing out on the forest floor.

* * *

A young huntress quirked her head to the side as she found trails of blood all over the hillside leading up to that big building, though she only found one body.

Everyone else seemed to have gotten out of there or taken for medical attention. Only a gray body in a pool of bright red remained.

She approached with eyes like a curious wriggler as she looked down at the boy with bright candied blood.

She pressed an ear to his chest.

 

He was alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had been waiting to finish typing up this chapter for forever, school's been kicking my ass and I'm in a musical (Playing Motel in Fiddler on the roof, so fuck yes) and I've had virtually no time on my hands, but I've just been so excited to post this chapter. Get ready to meet more characters because friends, you have just experienced a turning point.


	7. Repercussions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look another apology for how long this took. I decided to actually give Gamzee a legit title since "Highblood" seemed like a thing that wouldn't be used in Beforan society so much except maybe as a sort of derogatory term? Idk, but I decided to go with "The Faithful" so that's that. We're up for a wild ride, folks.

The Signless blinked himself awake, vision blurry as he took in his surroundings. He groaned and sat up. He’d apparently been resting on a pile of animal furs in the corner of a darkened cave. He glanced around again before clearing his throat, “Hello? Anybody there?”

After receiving no response he stood up and made his way along the wall, holding to his side and groaning in pain. His head was throbbing and he ached all over. His back hurt everywhere, a burning sensation streaking over his skin every time he moved. He stumbled to the entrance of the cave and blinked out at the darkened land.

He was in the middle of nowhere.

He stared at his surroundings a moment longer before startling as a tiny girl jumped out of the bushes towards him.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing up!?”

The Signless stumbled back and groaned at the pressure on all his bruises and cuts and burns, “I don’t know! Where the hell am I?”

The girl rolled her eyes, “Get back inside, dumbbutt, you’re hurt and only making it worse.”

He gripped his side as he backed up into the cave a bit, “Didn’t answer my fucking question.” He grunted as he sat back down, slowly remembering the past day’s events.

The girl rolled her eyes as she headed out of the cave again, “I’ll be right back. Stay put and I’ll try to answer some of your questions later. There’s another guy outside. Doesn’t look too hurt, but he passed out so I’m just gonna bring him in to make sure he’s alright. _Stay put_.”

The Signless sighed and leaned back, wincing at the burns and bruises over his back, waiting for the girl to return. His mind drifted through thoughts of the previous night: the bright flashes of blue and red against white, the terrified screams of the culled as they fled, mowed down by streaks of white, The Director and The Mutineer lying motionless on the floor, the sounds of The Ψiioniic’s pained cries and the panic as everyone fled out through the hole in the wall, the heat on his back, the pain as he tumbled down that steep rocky hill.

He startled as she returned carrying a frightfully familiar seadweller in over her shoulder. He scrambled backwards, eyes wide and he whimpered as his skin pulled tight over his muscles, shifting and sending sparks of pain through his system.

The girl raised her eyebrows before setting the purple-clad seadweller down in one of the piles of furs.

“Okay, Mr. Red, you’re gonna have to stop with this moving around shit.”

The Signless curled up against the wall, “Where the fuck did you find that guy and why the hell did you let him in?”

“God, not even a “Hi”? Or maybe a “Thanks for saving my ass”? You should really be resting Mr. Grumpy-pants.”

The Signless growled in the back of his throat as he eyed the seadweller over her shoulder.

“So I take it you two know each other?”

The Signless nodded the slightest bit, “You could say that.”

The girl flopped the seadweller down on one of the piles before standing up straight and turning back to The Signless, “So you just gonna act like a caged barkbeast or actually introduce yourself?”

The Signless stopped growling, but never took his eyes off the seadweller, “I’m The Signless… Yourself?”

She sat down cross-legged before him with a smile, “The Huntress, you sure got a real beating out there.”

He nodded and shifted a little, hissing at the throbbing pain over his whole body. He stared at the seadweller with fire in his eye, “Yeah, I’m one of the lucky ones from what I recall.”

He couldn’t help but remember the Ψiioniic’s screams as he shorted himself out, watching people thrown helplessly against the walls, shot through the torso, burned alive.

He was lucky.

“Sorry to hear that. I tried to fix you up a little, got that big cut on the back of your head taken care of and tried to fix up your back a little, a few cuts here and there. Don’t know what is and isn’t broken on you.”

The Signless nodded as he glanced down at himself. “Thanks. Appreciate it.”

“No problem. You were the only one out there anyways. Didn’t feel like letting you bleed out on the side of the hill.”

He blinked and furrowed his eyebrows, finally turning his attention in full to The Huntress, “What? There wasn’t anyone else?”

The Huntress shook her head, “No. It looked like they’d already come through and picked up bodies and the injured.”

The Signless growled again, “Those fucking bastards. They just left me to fucking die!”

He startled as the seadweller groaned and sat up, “Where the bloody fuckin’ hell?”

* * *

The Countess paced up and down the Cull Center lobby as she waited for the head coolblood to come see her.

She glanced up as a wild-haired purpleblood approached her and she stopped pacing, “Sir, I came to inquire as to the whereabouts of-”

“Sister, I know why you’re here. Let me escort you to some other place so I can all up an’ get my explainin’ on to ya.”

The Countess nodded, tight-lipped as the coolblood led her off to a separate block, gesturing to a chair on one wall as he seated himself on the other side of the small block.

The Countess sat, lips pursed in anger and worry as she crossed her legs and folded her hands stiffly in her lap.

“Now why don’t you all up an’ tell me why you’re here, sister. Just so’s we don’t be getting’ our misunderstandin’ on here.”

The Countess nearly cut him off as she launched into questions and angry exclamations, “I want to know why my cullee hasn’t been found! There’s no details on him anywhere and he’s reported as missing. Every single other troll present for the massacre has been found alive or dead, where is The Signless?”

The coolblood put up a hand to stop her speaking, “Look, sister. I’m afraid we all up an’ got some motherfuckin’ bad news for you. We found him, but reportin’ that shit in would mean havin’ to all up an’ motherfuckin’ fix him. We been wantin’ to keep him on the down low. While I personally was not in support a’ this action, the authorities came to a majority conclusion to leave him. He should be dead now. I can all up an’ show you where he is. He’s probably still there. Guy was already half dead when we found the poor bastard.”

The Countess stared stunned for a moment, “Karkat…”

She continued to stare in shock for a moment, jade springing to her eyes before she finally managed to hone in on the coolblood’s face, “But- I don’t understand. The system- It’s put in place to help people.”

“Technically yes. The bullshit motherfuckin’ excuse they made for this stunt was that the original mission statement for the Cull System explicitly claimed that “our purpose is to better the species” an’ that the mutant kid was a threat to that. Technically that argument oughta be bullshit considerin’ that the followin’ statement is “An’ the individual lives of our people”, but a’ course that just all up an’ got swept under the motherfuckin’ rug.”

He sighed and reached a hand over to rest on The Countess’s shoulder, “I really am sorry, Miss…”

“Maryam.”

“Miss Maryam. Truly sorry. All I can offer you is the chance to recover his body.

She nodded a little bit. The last thing he’d said to her had been “get out.” Had she left him alone before- not forced him into the cull system early- he’d still be alive right now. He wouldn’t have been here for the massacre.

“I would appreciate that, sir.”

“No need for that “sir” business, here.”

“What would you prefer, then?”

“The Faithful, Miss.”

The Countess nodded the slightest bit, head held high in a dignified manner despite the situation. The Faithful stood and offered her a hand which she politely declined as she stood up, eyes downcast. Poor Karkat. Left to die on the side of a hill. He must have been so utterly terrified.

“This way then, Miss.”

The Countess followed The Faithful out of the block and out of the building towards a steep hill which they carefully traversed, dodging rocks and bright stains of color painting the grass. She noticed his color before anything else, the bright red that’d seeped into the ground.

She frowned when there was no body in sight. She glanced over to The Faithful with furrowed eyebrows that matched his own.

“That… huh.”

She looked up at him, “Well?”

He frowned. There weren’t even any marks as if he’d been dragged away by some hungry animal, a few drops of bright red blood here and there, but other than that, no sort of trail or anything like he’d limped away.

“I’m afraid he really is now reported as missin’.”

“Pardon?”

“He ain’t here no more, sister. Looks like somethin’ or someone all up an’ picked him up an’ carried him off. I’ll have to check with the authorities to find out whether they got their move on with a brother’s corpse or nothin’.”

The Countess clenched her jaw, “I should hope that you do.” She glared down at the patch of unnatural bright red with an anger and a sorrow that made her gut twist.

She turned to leave with a soft sigh, “Do contact me when you find out.”

With that she walked back up the hill and left the center to return to her hive, lip clenched between sharp teeth in worry. He could be alive. And if no one else would she’d find him herself.

* * *

 

The Mutineer awoke in a sterile white block, not a cull block, more like a hospital. Fuck, what had happened? It took him a moment or two to recall. They’d been getting people out in the middle of an emergency evacuation. The Signless had found the Ψiioniic and they’d made it to the recreational block. Then everything went fuzzy, lots of light flashing and sounds of explosions and screams and a feeling of dread settled in his gut even though his mind drew a blank when he tried to remember past that.

He tried to sit up, having to push himself into a sitting position with his arms. Upon glancing around the room he determined that he appeared to be alone so he scooted to the side of the bed and went to stand up, only to find himself unable to move his legs.

His eyes widened and he tried again with no success. He started to look up around the room as if asking the air for help and he picked one leg up with one of his hands and dragged it over to the side of the recuperation platform when the door opened and he froze mid-movement to put his leg down.

“Tavros Nitram?”

He nodded at the little oliveblood lady who walked into the block, “Where, uh, where am I? What happened?” His head felt a little funny and his words felt slow and heavy as he spoke.

The lady guided him back down to lay on the platform, “You were in a large explosion and suffered severe damage to your spinal cord as well as severe bruising over your back and legs. As you’ve probably realized right now, the damage has interrupted your nervous system through your legs, you likely won’t be able to walk from now on, though there’s a slim chance for recovery.”

He stared for a moment before blinking, “How slim are, uh, how slim are we talking here?”

She sighed, “Less than a 1% chance I’d say.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me, right?”

She shook her head at him solemnly, “I’m afraid not.”

He stared a little longer, “I- well what about The Director, Aradia Megido? Or uh… Or The Ψiioniic, or The Signless?”

“I’m Afraid… Miss Megido is no longer with us. She was… in a rather close proximity to one of the explosions and suffered severe burns that she could not recover from. Mr. Vantas is currently counted as a missing person and Mr. Captor’s state is unstable. He has suffered severe head trauma and pan damage. We’re making every effort we can.”

The Mutineer swallowed back the lump in his throat. Everything was falling apart. His moirail, dead. Their hope for escape, incapacitated. Their third freedom fighter, missing. Hopefully he’d gotten away. Hopefully he’d continue trying to help bring down the Cull System.

“Any chance of, uh, of his full recovery? The Ψiioniic, I mean?”

“Uncertain, we can keep you informed if you’d like.”

He nodded a little as he pushed himself farther down the platform.

“I’ll leave you to rest, then.”

He nodded again and closed his eyes as the door shut behind her and he put a hand over his face, allowing himself to cry, tears welling up in his eyes and pouring down his cheeks. A lifetime’s worth of memories flashing through his head. A bright smile and a soft hug that he’d never have the privilege of experiencing again. The sound of her laugh and the way her hair felt when he’d thread his fingers through it. Gone. Forever. Those dark, warm, maroon eyes that crinkled up a little around the edges when she’d smile. The way her hair whipped behind her as they’d run. Her curled ridged horns and her warmth. All gone.

She’d been The Casualty that brought him to the ground.

* * *

 

Halfsoul blinked himself awake and glanced around his surroundings bewilderedly, from the blood-painted walls to the animal furs around the place to the terrified looking troll, bandaged up to hell and back, and the girl watching him intently and he startled backwards before slowly calming down. It looked like he hadn’t been caught by the cull center escorts.

“Look who’s finally up. Welcome back to the world of the living, fishyface.” The girl said looking him over briefly and he glanced around nervously.

“You sure that’s where we are.”

The bandaged one spoke up, “Wish it wasn’t, at least for you, asshole.”

Halfsoul frowned, “An’ who the hell’re you?”

“One of the numerous people you just tried to murder, so you can just shut your fucking mouth or I will strangle you with my bare hands, you hear me? Fucking psychopath.”

The girl glanced over at the guy in the corner with furrowed eyebrows, as if this was news to her.

Halfsoul narrowed his eyes at him, “Oh please, like you could manage that in your pathetic state you fuckin’ leech.”

“Say that again, to my fucking face,” The bandaged troll started to stand up, one hand against the wall, piercing Halfsoul with a glare so intense that if looks could kill he’d be spontaneously combusting.

Halfsoul glared at him and reached for the gun on his back only to find it wasn’t there and his eyes widened as he started to look himself over, “Where the hell’s my damn gun?!”

The girl raised her eyebrows at him, “Somewhere around here, but I’m thinking that giving it to you sounds like a pretty bad idea right about now so sit your ass down before I claw your bulge off.”

Halfsoul glared at her before sitting back down very slowly, turning his glare back to meet the injured troll’s.

“So what, am I just stuck here, then?”

The troll sitting bandaged in the corner spoke up again, “Basically, unless you wanna get nabbed by escorts, though I’d watch my fucking back if I were you. I’m in favor of not letting you live at all after the bullshit you just pulled. Do you know how fucking many people are dead or injured right now? Take a guess.”

“Oh please, you’re all just a bunch a’ fuckin’ leeches on society depletin’ valuable resources an’ slowin’ our species down. Gettin’ all fuckin’ coddled all night ev’ry night. I did the whole planet a fuckin’ favor. I oughta just fuckin’ kill your ass right now. Why were you in there, hmn? Was it some mental disorder? Or maybe you’re just too fuckin’ useless to take care of yo-”

“Enough!” The girl shouted. “The both of you need to shut the fuck up. No one is killing anyone right now and you’re both going to sit down and stop arguing or I’m kicking you both out!”

The bandaged guy was turning… an unnatural shade of red as he glared at Halfsoul.

“Fine… But if you expect me to treat this murderous asshole politely I will shove my foot so far up his ass he’ll get athlete’s foot in his fucking windhole.”

“Fine. Now everyone calm down. I have a hunt to finish and I expect everyone to still be alive when I return.” She glared at the both of them before slowly making her way to the cave entrance to go complete her hunt.

Halfsoul glared at the mutant sitting across from him and the other stared right back before growling, “You have a title I can remember so I know who to blame for the death of thousands?”

Halfsoul narrowed his eyes a little, “Halfsoul. You got a title I can remember so I know what to call the little abomination sittin’ across from me?”

“The Signless.” They sat in tense silence, neither refusing to sleep or take their eyes off the other too long.

This was going to be a long stay.


	8. Repairs and Tensions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Impaired wakes, The Merciful tries to put together pieces of a story, The Countess seeks out help, and there's high tension between Halfsoul, The Signless, and The Huntress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I've not updated in a while. I just started getting really bad writer's block and had a lot of random shit going on, like I just did two shows and have been trying to fix my body's metabolic issues and stuff, but hey! Here's a chapter. Also I think I'm sort of starting to stray a little from Canon because I know the cueball thing wasn't until the scratched version of universe A but hey, whatcha gonna do? I need plot things. I don't know I'm just having fun with this. I hope you people enjoy it.

The Ψiioniic blinked himself awake in unfamiliar surroundings, shaking his head and trying to clear the haze settling over him. He sat in a white block which (for some reason he couldn’t put his finger on) set him on edge and when he tried to speak his tongue felt slow and large in his mouth so he stopped trying to do that because it sucked and was no fucking fun whatsoever. He tried to sit up and he squinted down at the wires and bio-tech hooked up into his arms and legs with a frown. The fuck was that shit doing in here? It wasn’t even three minutes before someone walked in the block and he furrowed his eyebrows with a deep frown, narrowing his eyes at them as he tried to sit up farther, only for the action to pull on needles and shit in his arms and he grumbled before resigning to laying back down. He hurt all over, his eyes felt all puffy and hurty and sticky-like and his front felt all sting-y and prickly.

The person who’d just walked in the block blinked upon noticing he was awake and started talking at him all fast and he was pretty sure that whoever that was was asking him some sort of question but he felt like he was moving all slow, as if he were wading through honey or molasses or something. He just stared at them confusedly and blinked a couple times before trying to talk again.

“Uh… Cou- Could you thay that again an’ a lil’ th- thlower?” It was… difficult to say anything at all let alone put together a whole coherent sentence.

“Of course, Sir. I was saying,” They repeated more slowly, “You have been in a coma for about a week and have suffered severe head trauma and pan-damage. How do you feel?"

"Uh... bad?"

"Could you possibly elaborate?"

"Um... I... my h-ead hurth... and... uh... th-thpea- talking ith... really fru- fr- fruth-fruth-tra-ting... Fruthtrating. Wh- What even... happened?"

"I'm afraid you were in a rather bad accident. For now I'm going to have to ask you some questions, alright?"

He nodded a little, preferring to avoid speaking for now.

"Alright, let's begin. Can you tell me your name?"

He blinked and stared at them for a moment, "Uh... I don't know?"

"Nothing? No name?"

He shook his head at them.

"Can you remember anything at all?"

He shook his head and pouted a little bit, crossing his arms and wincing as they pulled on some of the equipment hooked up to him.

"Title? Wrigglerhood friends? Likes? Dislikes? Anything?"

He shook his head again and sank further down into the platform, "No... f- fu-uckin... Fuck shthshit fucking..." He started mumbling poorly pronounced profanity to himself with a grumble.

"Well, Sir. Your name is Sollux Captor."

"That'th a shitty name... too many "eth" thoundth."

"Your title was The Ψiioniic, though it appears that you're now unable to perform that same function."

"What'th a thionic?"

"You really don’t' remember anything? Nothing at all?"

He shook his head yet again, "No...?"

They frowned at him and he sighed, leaning back, "My head hurtth..."

"Alright... I'll go fetch the doctor to inform her you're awake."

They headed out the door quickly and the Ѱiioniic... god he hated that title, it sounded wrong and weird. Inaccurate maybe? Too many “S” sounds too. Any “S” sounds were dumb and frustrating. He curled up in the platform and closed his eyes, wincing a little at the way they pulled on aching scabs and burns on them.

He pulled the covers up over him and curled up as best he could without pulling out any of the wires in his arms and he sighed tiredly. He'd almost managed to fall back asleep before an older violet blooded man in a long white coat walked in and he groaned, sitting up again.

"Wh... what d'you want?"

"Sollux Captor or the  Ѱiioniic, yes?"

"Probably?"

"I'm The Doctoral Servicer. I'm afraid there is some amount of bad news to share with you."

The  Ѱiioniic frowned and nodded before holding his head in his hands, moving it too much gave him a bit of a headache, "Hit me w-ith it, Doc."

"Unfortunately there has been severe damage to the outer layer of your pan and your eyes seem to have shorted out."

"What'th that thu-thupp-thuppothed to mean?"

"As you may have noticed your memory appears to be incomplete and might even be permanently damaged. Your Psionics will also no longer be able to function, you completely shorted yourself out."

"Ith that bad?"

"Technically yes."

"Why tech- te-techni-cally?"

"If you can't remember then at least you get a new start."

"What?"

"You used to be a high-security patient because of your Psionic power, it caused you to accidentally kill one of our employees."

"Oh... I'm thorry..."

"Well, at least you get a fresh start free from that unfortunate disability."

He nodded a little bit again and frowned as he sat back, "Okay... thankth.... I think."

The doctor said a few more things that he didn't pay attention to before he tried to go back to sleep, drifting off into vague nightmares he could hardly discern and would forget upon his waking.

* * *

 

The Merciful stood straight and stiff as she looked over the steaming wreckage of what was once the largest most prestigious cull center on the planet. Her bloodpusher ached as she stared over the white crumbling building, "Faithful, how long until we can have this wing of the center up and running again?"

The Faithful gave her a shrug, “I don’t know exactly, could all up an’ be anywhere between sometime this perigee an’ sometime next sweep.”

Thankfully only the north eastern corner of the center had been decimated, the rest appeared to be relatively intact and most of it was still up and running.

She nodded in response to his report and carefully circled around from the back corner of the center, bloodpusher pounding in the back of her windpipe as she trod her daintily clothed feet through the grass around to the front again to enter the center through the door and she wanted to vomit at the sight of the bright colors staining the walls of the center and she swallowed the taste of bile rising in the back of her throat. She should check in on some of the survivors maybe. Find out just what happened from eyewitness accounts if she could.

Even away from all the destruction the scent of death permeated the air, stomach churning as she carefully approached the little Tealblood lady running the front desk and she cleared her throat, "Excuse me, Miss. I was hoping you could bring me to a room where I might talk to someone who might know what happened here. Preferably a cullee or survivor."

The little tealblood woman looked up from the papers she was pouring over, "Of course Your Highness. If you'll simply follow me."

The short stout little woman stood up from her desk and led The Merciful down the hall to a block which held a little brownblood who sat in a four-wheel device staring out the window tiredly.

"Sir?" The little woman said quietly, "You have a visitor."

The Merciful walked in the room quietly and solemnly before taking a seat in the chair against one of the walls.

The brownblood troll turned his head over his shoulder, looking far too tired for his relatively young age, even for someone of his caste. For a moment his eyes filled with fire at the sight of her before returning to the tired withdrawn state he'd begun with. He turned back to the window, "What more do you want from me?"

The Merciful furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, "I'm afraid I don't quite understand. I only came to find out what happened here. It's... difficult to get any accounts of the situation. As I understand it there was a shooter in the building, but other than that many of the details are fuzzy... At least give me your title, sir?"

"The Mutineer... You may have heard of me... I may change it soon. It doesn't seem to suit me very well anymore..."

The Merciful's eyes widened a little in sudden understanding. This was one of the people who went about "liberating" cull centers.

"I indeed have heard of you... Sir would you mind answering me a few questions?"

"Alright... It's not like I have anything worth keeping secret anymore..."

She frowned. It was... disheartening to see someone so utterly broken. Surely he needed the cull centers in order to live like this, "Thank you... Would you mind describing what exactly happened?"

The Mutineer stayed silent a moment before nodding a little, "We... My moirail and I as well as a... a friend of ours were planning an escape... To get out of the cull center and to get anyone out who wanted out. We... It all depended on there being an emergency, specifically an evacuation. Our friend, The Signless, he had a friend in high security with immense psionic power and in the case of an evacuation we could get him to blow the walls out... When the seadweller showed up and started gunning people down we had an opportunity, so we got the psionic troll, The Signless, and anyone who wanted out to the recreation center where we started blowing the wall out... the... The seadweller showed up and started killing everyone, this... this psionic tried to fend him off and shorted himself out in the process and... and killed a lot of people, including my moirail. I was trampled as people tried to escape. Apparently The Signless is missing. Hopefully he got out okay... He didn't belong in here."

The Merciful listened with a frown. Apparently she needed to create some new reforms to the cull centers if people were willing to die to escape them.

"I... I see. Thank you, sir... and I'm sorry for your loss."

The Mutineer scoffed a little, "Tell that to The Ψiio- Well I guess he’s The Impaired now. He's lost more than I have, though I think he's less upset about it than myself. He lost a friend, his memory, his power... You should try talking to him... I'd imagine he's lonely, not knowing anyone anymore."

The Merciful nodded slowly, "All the same, I appreciate your telling me what happened... I wish you a speedy recovery."

"This is as recovered as I'll ever get, Miss... the irony that now I truly need the centers..."

She frowned deeply as she watched the way his face seemed so disconnected, so empty and tired, eyes glazed over and mouth relaxed and turned down just the smallest bit.

"Well all the same, take care, sir..."

She stood up and turned to leave, her dress trailing along the floor behind her and she spoke briefly with the short little woman again, "Could you possibly show me to The Impaired's block?" 

* * *

 

The Countess took a deep breath as she pushed the door open, hands sweating a little as she clutched her hands in her skirt. It was time for her to pay an old friend a visit. She glanced around the musty room and walked up to the door labeled "Mindfang" and she swallowed back her nervousness before knocking on the door four times.

"Double it and I might just let you in."

She huffed and knocked four more times before an all too familiar face greeted her at the door, a pair of reading glasses on a long thin nose and brilliant blue eyes and lips quirked up into an intimidating smirk, "Hey, Kanaya. Been a while since I've seen you around here."

The Countess nodded curtly, avoiding eye contact before standing up a little straighter, "Indeed, but I'm afraid I'm only here on business this time. You see, I know you have access to any and all information, that’s what you do. Isn't it, Miss Informer Mindfang? I need some information from you. I don't know how you do it, but I wouldn't have come to you if it weren't dire."

"Awww, you're hurting my feelings, come on in and cough up all the juicy details, darling and maybe you can give me something in return?"

The Countess turned a dark shade of green and closed the door behind her, the walls seeming to crush down and suffocate the block as she sat down on one side of a desk and Mindfang on the other.

"I suppose I could, it depends on what you want."

"Well, darling. What I want depends on what it is you're looking for, so tell me love, what have you lost this time?"

The Countess sighed and leaned forward a little, "A young troll, his name is Karkat Vantas and he goes by The Signless. He has bright r-"

"Say no more, I've got it." Mindfang picked up a little cueball with a hum, playing with it between her fingers for a moment before smiling, "He's in the middle of the forest behind the Cull Center in the Capitol. He's about ten miles in, he's not alone and he's alive if you're wondering. There's two people with him."

The Countess sighed in relief, "Oh thank god."

"And now for payment."

"Oh dear."

"Oh come now, it's not nearly that bad. I'm flexible. All I want is for you to give me one person from the return party."

"I... I beg your pardon."

"You'll go out on a search with a group of people and you'll return with several people. I want one of them."

"But-"

"Or I could just take the payment out of your ass, dearest," Mindfang leaned in a little closer with a predatory grin, licking her lips as she reached out to trail a claw down the side of her face.

"No. I told you before, we are over."

"Then you're going to give me one member of the return party understood? When you return you will give me one person to do as I wish with."

"Understood."

"Then you go off on your quest, love. I expect you back within the next three perigees."

"Yes, Ma'am," The Countess stood up and turned to leave.

"And Kanaya... It was good to see you again."

"I wish I could say the same, Serket."

She hurried out of the block and then out onto the street, brushing herself off and letting out a sigh, relaxing despite the sound of Mindfang's voice whispering her name over and over again in her head. 

* * *

 

Halfsoul woke a second time only this time finding a hand around his neck as he startled awake, not having slept more than thirty minutes. He glared at the face staring down at him through angry eyes and he brought a hand up to grip around The Signless's wrist, "Let go, mutant."

He felt his grip tighten and he choked a little bit before digging his nails into his hands, "Let go of me."

The grip tightened and he dug his nails in hard enough to draw the mutant's abnormal blood and the lowblood flinched, pulling away finally. Halfsoul sat up straight, brushing himself off and reaching a hand up to smooth his gills back down where the lowblood's clammy hands had irritated the delicate filaments inside them and he glared at him, "I oughta just fuckin' rip your damn cullee eyes out a' your damn mutant fuckin' head."

"I'd like to see you try, bitch."

Halfsoul glared at him a moment longer before sighing and standing up, heading over to the opening of the cave, "Where the hell even are we?"

"How the fuck should I know? I was passed the fuck out and bleeding at the bottom of a fucking hill when The Huntress dragged me off."

"Well I thought _maybe_ you'd have a little more information than me seein' as you were here first, fuckin' mutant."

"Would you stop calling me that? It makes me want to rip out your munch-noodles through your optical bulb sockets. Also it makes you sound like a hemist fucking ass-pustule."

Halfsoul rolled his eyes at him and sat back down, "I'd fuckin' leave if I knew where the hell we were."

"Well that just sucks for you doesn't it? Looks we're just stuck here indefinitely. Or at least until the catgirl tells us where the hell we are and how to get back."

He ran a hand through his hair, glaring up at the tangled mess with a frown, damn fucking hair getting all fucking fucked. He sighed and leaned back against one of the cave walls, "Well I hope it's soon because I'm about _this_ fuckin' close to just shreddin' you fuckin' alive."

"Likewise."

They sat in uncomfortable silence before The Huntress finally returned, a rather sizeable dead animal hung over her shoulder and the two of them shared a quick glance as she dumped the bloodied thing in the corner.

"Well I'm glad neither of you seem to be trying to kill one another anymore!"

"Barely," The Signless muttered as he glared over at Halfsoul.

The Huntress let out an exasperated sigh and stood up straight before sitting down between the two of them, "Well if you want to go, just fucking _go!_ There's nothing keeping you two here... well," She glanced over at The Signless, "I suppose you have some pretty severe injuries..."

Halfsoul growled and flopped back on the floor in exasperation, "We don't even know how to get back you fuckin' imbecile!"

"Excuse you, manners when speaking to your Hostess."

Halfsoul rolled his eyes again and sat up to lean back against the cave wall, "Couldn't a' just fuckin' managed to kill this little freak while he was in the damn shithole."

The Signless stood up and winced at the pull on his cuts and bruises and burns, but that did little to quell his boiling anger, "How about you shut the fuck up and actually learn what the hell you're talking about, fishface? Do you know how many people just wanted to fucking get _out_? Do you have _any_ fucking clue what you're even talking about? You're talking about the murder of fucking hundreds of trolls who were essentially fucking imprisoned."

"Well then I _suppose_ I did them all a service, didn't I?"

The Signless growled at him in the back of his throat and lunged at him, The Huntress yelped and let out a huff as she stood up and walked out of the cave, throwing her hands in the air, "I can't even live in my own damn cave!"

The Signless gripped around Halfsoul's neck, growling, eyes turning slightly red around the edges in anger, "My friends were in there! I don't know if any of them are even alive! I don't know whether they died, whether I'll ever see them again! You killed _people_ do you not fucking understand that? You killed innocent fucking people. You separated quadrantmates and friendships and you sit there talking about it like you did something _good!?_ We were fucking miserable there. We wanted fucking freedom and you killed off a good solid hundred or so trolls! Why!? Why the hell would you do that you absolute piece of shit? Why would you-" He started to lose the fire keeping him with his hands gripped tightly around Halfsoul's throat, loosening his hold on him until he was just keeled over him resting with his knees on either side of his stomach, just staring at him, some mix of honest to god curiosity and hurt with anger and frustration and confusion.

Halfsoul just laid there for a moment, still in shock from being jumped like that and from watching The Signless break down like that, "I- It seemed logical. They're miserable, they're sucking resources, they're not contributing to society, kill them."

And then the rage was back, burning under The Signless's skin and threatening to spill over again.

"Logical?" His voice wavered a little in anger, "It seemed _logical_ to kill a bunch of trolls because you deemed it right? What are you? Mediation-overseer, Verdict-Spitters, and Executioner all in one? You had no fucking right."

"I had every right in the world."

The Signless crawled off of him, wincing at the way the movement pulled on his wounds "No. You didn't."

When the yelling and fighting finally died down The Huntress walked back in and glanced between them with a sigh, "If you two fight like that one more time I'll kick you both out, understood?"

The Signless nodded and Halfsoul glared at him, "He's the one pickin' all the fights."

The Huntress sighed and sat down to start skinning the animal she’d dragged back, "He's also the one who just lost contact with people he cared about and doesn't know whether they're dead or alive."

"You're takin' _his_ side!?"

The Huntress looked him over with a light glare before answering, "Yes."


End file.
